007

The best thing is, if she bothers me with the boys in brown, then I will just show them the police report I made recently, in which I stated that she stole two bank books from me. Sure, the police won't find them anymore on her, but maybe this, together with the fact of her sneaking into my room (without being the owner of a key) while I was away, will shut her up somehow. Maybe I can get her arrested on the spot; never mind that my evening would be ruined too.

How can reception open your apartment door.

Don't you have this chain on the door with your own lock?

No. They told me some time ago that they would change the lock, so that no-one except me could open it, but it never happened. And the reception staff is quite unreliable and changes often. That's why I warned the reception desk not to let her into the building, especially not into my room.

I'm in an endless cycle, it seems, of a nasty situation with my ex-girlfriend. She left me recently, just to come back to my apartment building, asking the staff to open my apartment without my permission, while I was away (she knew exactly when I wouldn't be home); removing many things, mostly hers.

Following that and a couple of phone conversations with her, I decided to do the following:

1. telling the reception staff not to unlock my room for her should she return to the building

2. call me or the police in case she came back, as she had stolen bank books, cash and other things from me in the past

3. telling the reception staff not to unlock my apartment for her because of reason No.2, as she had behaved towards me as a thief in numerous situations.

She now has phoned me, threatening me to 'come with the police', as she still has her things stored with a friend in the same building, which the staff won't give here as I warned them. Of course it's the decision of the staff to open any other apartment, except mine, isn't it?

My questions are these now:

1. Can, in Thailand, a former visitor of a tenant enter the tenant's apartment at any time, as he/she likes?

2. Can she verbally threaten me, only because I told the staff that she stole from me on numerous occasions?

Have you ever been to Vegas, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Frankfurt's Redlight district, or The Wall in Nuremberg? I'm sure there are a lot more.

I doubt Thailand invented this industry.

True. Thailand neither invented prostitution, nor karaoke bars. Then again, I doubt that you'll find 13-year old prostitutes (this fact perhaps even being known by some government officials) in Amsterdam, Frankfurt or the US. Nor will parents in those places sell their teenage daughters to brothels.

There is quite a high number (compared to other countries) of Thai people who admire Hitler, be it for 'great war strategist' or other reasons. Add to that growing nationalism and some heirdoes that resample the 1930s, as well as Thais mentally living in the past when Cambodia and Laos still belonged to their 'Reich'... (Just observe how Thais behave and what they talk when being guests in Kota Bharu, Padang, Poipet, or Vientiane.) Some of them really seem to think that these places still belong to Thailand.

Does anyone of you Pattaya residents know what the opening hours of the Krungsri Bank (aka Bank of Ayudhya) on Pattaya Klang Road, near Carrefour are?

I'm in Bangkok, so I can't check on my own right now, and the business I have to do there (replacement of pass book) is not possible from Bangkok where I live now.

No. As you do not appear to qualify for such a visa.

Wow, cheers, lopburi for the prompt reply.

Is it possible these days to get a 1-year (or 6-month) Non-Immigrant "O" visa from a Thailand diplomatic mission in Australia? Remark: I'm a non-resident in Australia, EU passport holder, in Thailand for the past 11 months on tourist visas, not married, under 50, just spending money in Thailand.

Anyone, who knows how much a police report with the boys in brown is, and whether it is generally accepted as proof of theft at western banks?

Either he is an American or a Canadian. I don't think you can be both ? It certainly makes a change from the usual aggressor being English rather than the victim. Battering a 60 odd year old and a Thai woman isn't exactly the done thing though regardless of nationality.

Some people have two passports and nationalities. As for '...usual agressor being (pick nationality)..." - pardon my French, but this is a stupid (not personally meant) stereotype. Also, what would you do 'back home' - call the police?

If you ask any Thai what the most sophisticated and business-friendly bank is, he will probably name 'Siam Commercial Bank'. On the other hand it's quite hard for a foreigner to just walk in and open an account with them. Still, I have one, though I keep most of my money at other banks, partly because the staff at the SCB branches often mumble 'falang falang...' when I enter their branches. (Happens only at that particular bank's branches, mind you.) The other day I used one of the bank's passbook update machines; guess what instruction I read on the screen - "For update of passbook open the lastest page."

OP:

...i like where i live besides this one huge problem

i believe most every time i asked them to fix something

they either did not do it,

did not do it correctly,

i had to do it myself,

had it redone myself,

only lead to more problems later when they did it,

or some kind of combination of these...

This is Thailand. Money talks, even though most people here call themselves 'Buddhist'.. If I were you I would agree on a suitable pay, both for quality work (e.g. a bonus) AND for lax work (i.e. much lower). If they just mess around rather than doing quality work, give them only he lower pay, but if they do a good job offer them the higher pay for it.

Why dont these bloody tourists learn Thai before they decide to come here.

Or Latin if they want to visit the Vatican..

And even if they learnt the language, and then travelled to Pattaya or Patong, where they all just speak Esarn Lao..

The worst thing about those long passport control queues is your luggage is going around and around on the carousel.

Anybody can pick up your luggage and walk straight out of the terminal with it.

Who would do something like that? The illegal taxi touts standing right in the baggage claim area next to the customs staff?

(From King Power and their theft-scam to illegal taxi touts in the baggage claim area.. This is all mafia-controlled; just look up 'Suvarnabhumi airport' in Wikipedia.)

Thailand - Land of smiles?? Think again; it's more about scamming. Not just foreign tourists but everyone.

Considering the number of Russian tourists and mind you 99% do not speak any English, who and what tour guides does Thailand propose to use to show them around?

Perhaps gestures and pidgin English..

"Heyyyy you-you-you, fallang Rus--sia, Pree-wit. Kaa paasievash?

So tour companies serving the huge Russian inbound market are supposed to do this with 10 Thai Russian speaking guides for the entire country...what a cock-up. At least the TAT director didn't tell us again that there is no evidence of prostitution in Pattaya

I remember reading, not long ago, about the same issue regarding Korean tour guides. So, what will the Thais do now; educate Thai tour guides in Russian, Korean, etc., or will they have to write off both target groups as tourism income earners?

Actually about 4 an hour at Suwanapum from my personal observation on multiple occasions! Sometimes up to 10 an hour.

With such a high number I am not surprised that the authorities are pi**** off, seeing it as a real problem. Not that yours truly hadn't overstayed once himself: passing through immigration late in the evening on the last day of my visa, while the flight departed shortly after midnight.

The problem is - who do you actually address these complaints to? Making the problem more visible here in TV does serve other readers/contributors. But the poor tourists who are unaware of this disaster will be the one's who really suffer. And this is, in my view, a totally addressable situation. Even for a Third World airport.

Thailand is rapidly losing more 'face' here.

Exactly as it was the day before! No way one can go from the check-in counter via such long queues, and again through security in 25 minutes (as some airlines seem to think). Actually, one Air Asia staff told me to complain to the immigration officers, which I did, just to get a sour face, a 'you have to stamp your passport again, and I have so much time to process you' as I had to go through immigration again to get the next flight. And when I mentioned that I had never seen such long queues at any airport in the world, I received the standard answer 'This is Thailand...'

Ms Nuntawan admitted that Thai restaurants in Europe had no choice but to buy vegetables exported from other countries such as Laos, Vietnam and the Netherlands.

OMG! So the overseas Thais will have to eat un-Thai vegetables from (yuck) Lao and from falang countries like Hollan'... (Is there any limit to racism? How are Asian vegetables and herbs from Laos different from the ones in Thailand, I wonder.)

How about: Icelanders - eat only Icelandic bananas...

Did you get to the airport within the 2-3 hour time frame before your flight?

Yes, but the problem was that there were very long queues everywhere: first at Air Asia's counters, at security, and then at immigration (up to 105 minutes!!). I had already checked in, but missed my flight because the queues at the few open immigration counters were extremely long and processing very slow (3-4 minutes per passengers, with hundreds waiting in each queue). Then there's the long distance to Air Asia's gate(s). When I arrived there finally I was told 'we waited for you 10 minutes already'. Again, why didn't they wait a bit longer for the three passengers who arrived 12-15 minutes late? Also, Air Asia closes its check-in counters 45 minutes before the flight, while also closing the gate 20 minutes before departure. That leaves you 25(!) minutes to get through slow passport control and security, AND walk the long way to the gate two levels down and at the other end of the terminal! It's just impossible; currently not doable at less than 80-160 minutes. Why does one have to pay up for a new ticket? (Remark: The next plane to KL and also the plane from KL to BKK were both about 20 minutes late!)

That sounds a lot like this thread: http://www.thaivisa....3632-not-happy/

I just missed my flight, as I had to wait about 50(!) minutes in the queue. Officers arrogant when I complained, and the airline (Air Asia) couldn't even wait the 12(!) minutes that I was late. Result: I had to buy a new ticket! (Actually, I was one of three passengers to whom it happened!!) This was a visa run to activate my tourist visa. Now I am seriously considering to overstay. Why does a passport check take 50 minutes at Suvarnabhumi, but hardly two minutes at KL airport.

As somebody else mentioned, immigration officers moody (and slow). At least I got the phone number of the top immigration guy in charge, without even asking for it. It's a mobile number. For anyone who wants it to complain in person to the guy, pm me.

Amazing Thailand

That's why they call it 'Amazing Thailand'! What's next - french fries sold in litres? Rice in dozens??

ere is *no* link between coral bleaching and diving. None. The presence of divers will *not* make bleaching worse. If you close the parks, this is what will happen:

* Bleaching goes unreported (no complaints => problem solved!!).

* Monitoring gets wound back, because nobody is complaining.

* Illegal fishing activity goes through the roof.

If he's worried about pollution he should get rid of the fishing boats instead. 95% of crap on the reefs is broken fishing gear.

Certainly true. Problem are all the boats, whether fishing or tour boats. After all, how do the divers get to the diving sites?

The great pity of this is that Thailand has not used its new found wealth to have invested in its future by improving its education system for example, or protected its tourist industry by curbing the development or corruption that plague it. IMHO the speed of Thailand's economic rise might only be matched by the gathering momentum of its descent.

And the infrastructure.

Congratulations - again, Thailand is number 1!! :lol:

So, how about making Thailand 'The Hub for...'

Erm, no!!